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Psoriasis Cure Now launches letter writing campaign to National Institutes of Health
(August 28, 2006) Psoriasis Cure Now, a nonprofit patient advocacy group, today launched a letter writing campaign to the National Institutes of Health to reinforce for NIH officials that psoriasis is a serious disease that merits increased research funding. Even as Congress has doubled NIH funding over the last decade, psoriasis research funding has fallen. In addition, NIH recently released a statement that read, in part, “Understanding the genetics of skin disorders [like psoriasis] may well have important implications for more serious illnesses, such as asthma.” Asthma research received $289 million in NIH funding during fiscal year 2005; psoriasis research received just $6 million, according to NIH. People can write to NIH directly through the Psoriasis Cure Now website.
“Psoriasis is a serious disease, but some at NIH might not realize it,” said Michael Paranzino, president of Psoriasis Cure Now. “We think a national letter writing campaign by psoriasis patients and their loved ones can help educate NIH officials about the real-life impact psoriasis has on so many Americans. The National Institutes of Health is the world’s premier biomedical research institution, and millions of Americans with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are counting on NIH to deliver the cutting-edge research breakthroughs that NIH has produced in so many other research areas. We think asthma research deserves more than the $289 million it received last year, but we also believe that psoriasis research merits far more than the $6 million it received.”
While asthma is a serious and costly disease and is more often fatal than psoriasis, both diseases negatively impact quality of life. For example, a just-published study in the British Journal of Dermatology found that children with psoriasis report impairment in their quality of life that equals the impairment reported by children with other chronic illnesses including asthma, epilepsy and diabetes. Studies in adults have produced similar results, with a 1999 study finding that “Patients with psoriasis reported reduction in physical functioning and mental functioning comparable to that seen in cancer, arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and depression.” Congress has recognized the need for increased psoriasis research funding at NIH. For the second year in a row, both the House and Senate have included strong Report Language accompanying the annual NIH funding bill urging NIH to increase its commitment to psoriasis research.
“The psoriasis community has delivered thousands of letters to Congress over the past two years, and Congress is responding favorably,” Paranzino added. “We are hopeful that NIH will respond similarly to the heartfelt requests of psoriasis patients and their loved ones across America who write to NIH through our website. Great things are expected of NIH, and meeting those expectations must be a difficult challenge, but psoriasis patients can no longer be silent as psoriasis research is shortchanged.”
Click here to write to NIH.
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